


Down the Rabbit Hole

by SCP682_HardtoDestroyReptile



Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-29
Updated: 2020-03-30
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:40:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23383186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SCP682_HardtoDestroyReptile/pseuds/SCP682_HardtoDestroyReptile
Summary: When Link receives a cryptic letter he is invited into a world of fear and pain. How will he deal with the aftereffects? NOT YAOI. Based on characters from Good Mythical Morning, but completely fictional. I won't make any money off this. If you haven't seen the show, go watch it now. It's amazing. Written years before the fanfiction episode.
Relationships: None
Kudos: 1





	1. Ch 1

**Author's Note:**

> While in self isolation I decided to rewrite all of my fanfiction.net stories and upload them here. I wrote this years before the fanfiction episode.

Down the Rabbit Hole

Office mail is just that, a piece of business to deal with - usually boring and mundane. It's generally paperwork to be filled out, filed, and forgotten. Or that's what Link used to think before...

Before.

Rhett and Link had a way of working that kept their creative thoughts flowing while allowing them to get the most out of their day. When they were working separately, Rhett tended to focus to the point of being oblivious to his surroundings, and Link would talk through whatever he was working on, not noticing or caring if anyone was actually listening. It was the process that mattered.

It was proving to be a frustrating day for Link. Writers' block is no laughing matter, and Link let loose with a groan that turned into a yell of frustration.

Rhett looked up from his computer. "Go to your safe place," he said, and he smirked.

Link leaned back in his chair and spun slowly, looking up at the target he had haphazardly painted on the ceiling.

"This is my safe place," he said. He flicked a pencil upward while spinning, barely hitting the edge of the target. Little did he know that his safe place was becoming less safe by the second.

"Do what I do," Rhett said. "Make it Zen. You can do it Serpent King!" He snickered again.

Link deleted what he'd been working on, a full two hours of work that he was completely bored with, and he stared at the screen as he tried not to think about the snake box.

"Don't call me Serpent King," he said. "It doesn't help. I don't ever want to do anything like that again."

"If the public wants snakes they get snakes," Rhett said.

"They could get liver next time," Link said. "How about that?"

"Or blood," Rhett said. "I was thinking about doing something for Halloween with blood - like, we could drink our own blood." He watched Link for the familiar reaction to decide how well it might go over on camera.

Link couldn't stop the mental picture of Rhett with fake vampire teeth and blood running down his chin.

"Ugh," he said. "That's just not right." He gagged slightly and then made a face at Rhett.

Rhett began to type again, and Link turned back to his screen, determined to beat the block.

_Not going to think about blood,_ he thought. _No blood. Calm blue ocean. Pretty wife. Kids with footballs. Peeps. That's it - Peeps. Little pink peeps - no blood._

But somehow the more he tried not to think about blood, the more he came back to the same mental picture.

His stomach was already queasy, but when he thought about himself with a medieval chalice full of blood, the warm thick copper-tasting fluid touching his lips and rolling over his tongue it was too much. He managed to grab his Mythical Barf Can and dry-heaved over it while Rhett howled with laughter.

"Not funny," Link managed to get out between stomach spasms. "Save talk like that for the show. Better yet, never mention it again."

"Ok, we'll let that one go," Rhett said, but Link wondered when it would pop up again.

He put the can down.

"Nothing came out," he said, holding his stomach. He grimaced. "I wish it would."

"I bet you can work now though," Rhett said. "I took your mind off whatever was blocking you."

"Are you saying you planned that?" Link asked.

"No, but it's funny."

And then - as sometimes happened - Link's world closed in on itself, and his head felt fuzzy. His vision clouded and then cleared, and he pulled off his glasses and wiped his face, which felt pale and clammy.

From a distance he could hear Rhett typing, which meant he probably didn't even know what was happening.

He held onto the edge of his desk and then leaned his elbows on the desk and his forehead on his palms to steady himself. The weakness didn't leave, and he began to be afraid.

It wouldn't have been so bad except that he'd already cut himself that morning while shaving. It hadn't been a bad cut, but seeing the blood on his lip had made him just queasy enough to make him lay down for a few minutes until he could move freely without worrying about falling.

No such luck this time. His vision clouded again, and spots formed in front of his eyes he tried to talk.

"Rhett," he said. It was all he could get out.

Rhett didn't answer, and Link realized he hadn't been loud enough to be heard. He felt his balance leave him, and he wasn't sure if he was sitting straight or leaning to the left.

He'd felt faint a number of times, but he had only actually fallen twice during an incident, and both times he was lucky enough to have someone catch him before he hit his head, or broke his jaw, or damaged his face in any of the many ways a person could injure themselves falling.

Everything turned black and he fell, still conscious enough to know he was about to be in a lot of pain. His last conscious sensation was large hands stopping his fall and lowering him to the ground. _I guess he noticed,_ he thought.

He came to in stages, first feeling the cool wetness of a cloth on his forehead, and then his sight came back - as much as it ever did without his glasses. Someone had unbuttoned the top three buttons of his shirt, unbuckled his belt, and placed a pillow under his head.

"You ok?" Rhett asked. "You've been out for a few minutes."

"Yeah," he said. "I'll be fine." He wasn't so sure. With everyone leaning over him he felt like he might faint again. He waved a hand. "Get back," he said. "Let me breathe."

Everyone stepped away but Rhett, who knelt beside him. He usually laughed when someone hurt themselves, but then he laughed when he hurt himself too. Now he looked worried.

Link felt his strength returning slowly, and with it the embarrassment of being watched by the whole crew after swooning. "I'm always fine," he said. "How many times has this happened? A lot."

"I've seen you get faint, but I've never seen you just pass out cold like that," Rhett said.

"It's happened a couple of times," Link said. "Just the blood pressure dropping. Let me alone. Need to..can't think."

"What?" Rhett asked. "You're mumbling."

"Go away!" Link said.

Everyone stepped away but Rhett, and when Link sat up Rhett put a hand behind his back to support him. He helped Link stand and leaned down so he could pull an arm around his shoulder. He led Link toward the staff room, letting him think he was walking but really almost carrying him as he stumbled constantly. He ignored the growing pain in his back and focused on getting Link somewhere comfortable and private so he could recover.

The staff room was casual, with an old TV, fluorescent lighting, a dingy fridge, and an ancient-looking but comfortable couch. More importantly, it was the only room besides the bathrooms that was likely to be private enough.

Nothing had ever looked better to Link than that couch, and when Rhett lowered him he immediately felt some relief.

Rhett grabbed the blanket from the end of the couch and pulled it over Link, then pulled off his shoes.

"Your glasses are on the table. Do you need anything?" Rhett asked.

"I think we have some juice in the fridge," Link said. He had reached the point where he just needed to sleep and let his body recover.

Rhett got him some juice in a paper cup, and Link was able to sit by himself this time. As Rhett handed him the juice Link noticed that his hand was shaking.

"Sorry," Rhett said. "I didn't know what it was like."

"You've seen me faint before," Link said. "I know you think it's funny. It isn't. It's hell."

"I've seen you get queasy and stumble around, but this was worse. I always kind of thought you were playing it up."

"Just don't do it again," Link said. He lay down and closed his eyes, hoping Rhett would get the hint.

Rhett patted him on the shoulder in what Link supposed was a comforting gesture.

"It won't happen again," he said.

Link opened his eyes and saw that Rhett looked more miserable than he'd ever seen him, more even than during their experiments that had involved peppers.

"It's ok," Link said. "No harm no foul, right?" Although he felt harmed, a lot.

Rhett laughed uneasily. He turned off the light. "Sleep as long as you need to. I'll tell the crew to stay out."

When he woke he felt almost well, still weak but ready to face the world again - mostly. Rhett was working at his computer, and Link sat at his with a sigh. He'd forgotten about his writing problem, and now he was only further away from getting any work done than ever.

"You feeling better?" Rhett asked.

"Yeah," Link said. He looked at the clock on the screen. "Did I really sleep three hours?"

"I figured you must need it. Why don't we call it a day and head home?"

"You're driving," Link said.

"Ok," Rhett said. It struck Link that Rhett wasn't talking nearly as much as usual.

"Don't worry about earlier," Link said. "It isn't that big a deal."

"It is though," Rhett said. "I thought you were dead at first. You looked dead. I thought I killed my best friend."

"If offal doesn't kill me, I don't think you can," Link said. "It's forgiven. Can we stop talking about it? I just want this day to be over."

The rest of the staff had left, and as Link turned off the office light he noticed a plain white envelop in his mail slot with his full name and address. There was no return address. He picked it up, turned it over, tossed it on the desk, and promptly forgot about it.


	2. Ch 2

Ch 2

By the next morning Link and Rhett had moved past the event and were working on another Will It? video.

"I'm not looking forward to this," Link said.

"I am," Rhett said. "It's a chance to try all kinds of new foods. Expand your horizons. It's a good thing."

"How can you think that?" Link asked. "It's a one-way ticket to vomit-town." He stopped when he saw Rhett grinning. _He's messing with me,_ Link thought.

"I want to do something with blood," Link said.

"Are you nuts?" Rhett asked. "Why?"

"I want to prove I can do it," Link said. 

"No way," Rhett said. "Not after yesterday. I don't want to see that again."

"I really need to do this. It just happened because I was imagining drinking my own blood," Link said. He closed his eyes and gulped as the mental picture floated through his mind again. "I'd already gotten woozy once yesterday. How likely is that to happen again twice in one day? Let's do it. "

"No," Rhett said. 

Brief dizziness passed quickly when Link turned his mind toward the production questions of such a video. _Focus on that,_ he thought, and it worked - this time.

"You really want to do this?" Rhett asked.

"I need to," Link said. "I passed out in front of the whole crew. I have to show them I'm not a wimp."

"No one cares about that," Rhett said. "We were just worried about you."

They decided on a do-it-yourself blood test. "You shouldn't have to deal with too much blood that way," Rhett said. "Just a few drops."

They didn't know how the staff did it, but it was almost magical how fast they could accomplish something amazing, and how they could always find an obscure product. It was only a couple of hours before they were looking at 4 unopened blood testing kits.

"You want to do this now?" Rhett asked. "They got us two extra so we can practice."

"We'll do it once, like always," Link said. "We see it the first time when the viewers see it."

"We can think of a backup plan if you pass out while we rehearse, but we do need to rehearse. I know we don't do that, but everyone is worried about you. Let's just change the format up this time," Rhett said. 

"No," Link said. "I can beat this. If I pass out, put it on the show. That way I know I have to fight it."

"Why?" Rhett said. "No one expects you to do this."

"Because I'm a man, dammit!" Link said.

Link didn't curse often, so it really brought home to Rhett how serious he was. "If you need to do it, we'll do it," he said, "but I don't like it."

They worked on the episode, and Rhett occasionally asked him if he was ok talking about blood.

"I'm fine," Link said. "Yesterday was an aberration. It won't happen again." _I hope,_ he thought. He had to stop once and take a few deep breaths when they were talking about how they would set it up, but other than that he was fine.

"See," he said when they were finished. "No problems."

They ordered pizza for lunch and worked through it, as they often did; joking around mouthfuls of food and showing each other the mush in their mouths while naming a weird food it looked like. It was how a couple Will It? video ideas had been born.

After lunch they were both energized and ready to work. As they pitched ideas at each other Link picked up the envelope that he'd forgotten the day before, and he slit it open. A small card fell out, and he picked it up, turning it over in confusion.

It was ivory and embossed with a delicate silver font that swirled and twisted in a very Victorian and elegant manner. "Charles Lincoln Neal," swirled across the front of the card. Underneath his name, in print so small he had to hold it close to see it was written, "Are You Ready to Go Down the Rabbit Hole?"

He was about to show the card to Rhett when Chase came in and said, "Look what I found!" It was easily the largest, most aggressive water gun he'd ever seen, and he forgot the card again. He didn't even notice when he knocked it to the floor, where it lay near his desk.

The next day before they were ready to film Rhett was obviously nervous.

"Why are you nervous?" Link asked. "I'm the one that has to do this."

"I'll be ready," Rhett said. "If you need to stop, just say so. We'll adlib something."

"No," Link said. "It's like the Spicy Food Showdown. No milk, no rescue."

"But...," Rhett began.

"Quit worrying about me," Link said. "I know my own body. I can do this." He wished he felt half as confident as he sounded.

"Ok brother," Rhett said, "but I reserve the right to laugh then."

He grinned and slapped Link on the back. "Let's do this then!" he said. "You can do it, Serpent King!"

As soon as the cameras turned on any reluctance Rhett felt was disguised as his "show personality" took over. It wasn't much different from his usual personality, just exaggerated for the audience. 

He broke slightly when Link reeled after pricking himself a second time and leaned back in his chair, eyes rolling slightly. Rhett put out his hand to steady him, but Link recovered quickly, and despite obvious discomfort he didn't seem to be in any danger, although he babbled a bit near the end of the show.

After the show Rhett assured himself that Link was walking steadily and said, "high five, Serpent King! You did it!"

Link laughed. "Are you going to call me Serpent King forever now?"

"Just when you beat a challenge, and you really beat that one. No one out there knows what you really did, but I do."

"See. You were worried for nothing," Link said.

"No," Rhett said. "You're my best friend. I thought you were dead."

"I'm not going to die any time soon," Link said. "I have too much awesome stuff to do."

"Let's make a pact, like when we were kids," Rhett said.

"What?" Link asked. "Are you nuts?"

"No, seriously," Rhett said. He held his hand out. "Show me your pinky."

Link laughed and held out his hand. "You are nuts."

Rhett linked his pinky with Link's. "You and I are going to die at the same time. I don't know how, but let's swear it. Neither one of us leaves the other one here."

"Are you really making me pinky swear?" Link asked. "What's gotten into you?"

Rhett locked eyes with Link, and it was a look Link didn't see very often. Rhett could be an intense man, but he radiated a new kind of seriousness.

"Because this was the most important way we had to make the universe do what we wanted when we were kids," Rhett said, "and I can't imagine what life would be without you, so we'll pinky swear."

Link shook his head and laughed, but he held his other hand up as Rhett did. "I swear I won't die and leave you here," he said.

"I swear I won't die and leave you here," Rhett said. It was the most serious Link could ever remember him being. 


	3. ch 3

Ch 3

Link noticed the card on the floor and picked it up, flipping it over. In contrast to the elegant, delicate print on the front the back had a simple bold typeface with nothing but a long website - www.http//runrabbit9948/info/now.net

A shiver ran through him, and he glanced over at Rhett who was intensely working at his own computer. He almost told Rhett what he had found, but he stopped.

 _He'd stop me from looking,_ he thought. He was sure of it. After the over-protective way he'd been acting lately, Link was sure they'd have a huge argument, because his curiosity was peaked, and the adrenaline rush of exploration and discovery was already on him. There was no other choice for him but to dive in.

He backed up his files on an external drive, just in case there was a virus attached. It was a probability, but it didn't stop him.

He had no idea what to expect, and he could never turn away from that. In fact, it attracted him like a moth to a flame.

And he saw simply a white page.

 _What was I expecting anyway,_ he wondered. _It's probably one of the guys pulling a prank._

Just as he was about to close the window, a rabbit jumped onto the screen, an animated rabbit in a waistcoat and wearing a watch. The allusion was so obvious that Link didn't have much hope for a lot of creativity from the author. The rabbit looked at its watch and looked back at Link with a worried look. It hopped to the middle of the screen where a black hole opened.

Link knew what came next - of course. Everyone did. The rabbit jumps down the hole and Alice follows. _Predictable,_ he thought with growing disappointment, but as the rabbit reached the hole it stopped, looked back at Link, and changed. It's long teeth grew into fangs and it's face became deformed and monstrous, with massive blood-shot eyes, maggoty fur, and worst of all - a hole where its nose should have been. Reptilian claws replaced the soft, furry paws, and drool dripped from its mouth.

 _Ok. Maybe not so predictable,_ Link thought.

The rabbit jumped into the hole, and then a claw reached out and beckoned for Link to follow. A link appeared under the hole that said, "Enter at your own Risk."

The cursor hovered over the link while he decided if it was worth the experience for the virus he was probably about to put on his computer, but in the end curiosity won - as always. The screen turned black and then white. Another black hole appeared, and the monster rabbit jumped out, snickering.

A link appeared, and the rabbit pointed at it before jumping back into the hole, which closed again, leaving only a white page with a single, large, bold word splashed across it in a font that looked like dripping blood.

RHINK

 _So it's someone that knows about me and blood,_ Link thought. _Must be a fan. Rhett wouldn't do this. It's too subtle for him._

He remembered his friend's panicked, miserable face when he'd fainted. _There's no way, but then who? As if some badly drawn blood is going to bother me._

He hesitated, a feeling of impending doom creeping over him.

"Hey Rhett, have you ever heard of Rhink?" he asked.

Rhett looked up from his work. "Sounds familiar. Is it some sort of food you want to try out on the show?"

"I don't know," Link said. "A fan sent me something."

When he clicked on the word it dissipated slowly, and then five things appeared on the screen. They simply said, "Link 1, Link 2, Link 3, Link 4, Link 5."

 _Do they mean me-Link or click on it-link?_ he wondered, but he clicked the first one.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Rhett was pulled out of his thoughts to reality when he heard a high-pitched squeak coming from Link. He looked up to see his friend staring at his laptop with his eyes wide and his brows as far up as they would go.

"What did you find?" he asked.

"Photoshop," Link said. "Some of our fans have some very active imaginations." He gulped, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down.

"Let me see," Rhett said, and he stood, holding his back and grimacing at the pain.

Link slammed down the computer's top so hard that Rhett wondered if he might have cracked the screen.

"You don't want to see this," Link said.

Rhett rolled his eyes. "Oh, it's one of _those,_ huh?"

"You knew about this?" Link asked, his voice breaking at the end.

Rhett settled into his chair, working to find the perfect spot for the least amount of pain. He waved a hand dismissively. "It's just fans being fans. It's kind of weird, but nothing to worry about. How did you go this long without seeing a few edited pics?"

"I could have gone the rest of my life without seeing that!" Link said.

Rhett snickered. "It happens to celebrities. Don't let it get to you. I'm more impressed that they think I could be that flexible with my back like it is."

Link spluttered, unable to speak. "You...I...just, no."

"Of course no," Rhett said. "This isn't the first time someone has thought we're gay. Who cares?"

"Who thinks we're gay?" Link asked.

Rhett studied Link's face. _Is he really that oblivious, or is he pretending? We can't use this on the show. Too edgy. Better to keep people guessing._

"Probably only a few people," Rhett lied after he decided to take pity on Link. "It's just a double standard. Women are comfortable with each other physically, but when men are people think they have to be gay. It's no big deal. It's good for business anyway."

The conversation was starting to irritate him. Just because they weren't gay didn't mean Link had to act like a few pictures were the end of the world. _I know he's not homophobic. It must just be because we're close friends._

He tuned out and started to work again, but then he heard an all-too-familiar sound, Link retching. He was dry heaving over the barf bucket again.

Rhett begrudged every time he had to stand when his back hurt, but he went to Link's desk to help him.

Link looked up from the bucket, his glasses off and his face puffy and red from the effort of holding back vomit. He closed the laptop again, but Rhett jerked it open, invading Link's privacy without guilt.

 _That's where I heard of Rhink,_ Rhett thought. Stevie had found fanfiction about them and showed it Rhett once. They'd had a good laugh over it and he'd forgotten, but apparently Link took it more seriously.

Rhett closed the window. "Don't read this mess," he said. "Let's work on something."

Link nodded and put the bucket down and reached for a tissue, blowing his nose loudly. Rhett wondered if Link knew he was on a few sneeze fetish forums. _Probably not,_ he thought. _He really would have a fit._

"I need to do something first," Link said. He stepped into the hallway, but Rhett could hear him on the phone.

"Hey honey," Link said. "No, nothing's wrong. I just wanted to call and tell you I love you - no reason. Yeah. See you tonight. Love you."

Rhett thought he looked a little more relaxed when he came in. "Feel better?" he asked.

"Yeah," Link said. "That was just really graphic. I don't even do that stuff with my wife."

"For what it's worth I don't like those stories either," Rhett said, "but I don't want to worry about it, so I don't. You're fabulous and I'm big and apparently some people think I'm cuddly." He made a face as he said _cuddly._ "It was bound to happen eventually."

"Why don't we do some sort of makeover?" Link asked. 

"What, like a manly makeover?" Rhett asked.

"Maybe I ought to change my image," Link said.

"We can do it for the show, but you're fine how you are," Rhett said.

"Thanks for that," Link said.

They began to work on the makeover, arguing about pirate patches and fake scars, and as Link settled into "production mode" as Rhett thought of it, Rhett was just glad that Link didn't know how he really felt about him.

There were feelings he'd never let Link know about, things that would hurt their friendship badly, but it wasn't what the fans suspected. Sometimes Rhett couldn't help but think of Link as a little brother, a dorky kid who needed his protection during fainting episodes and epically clumsy falls.

He glanced at his friend, who was seeing how bad his depth perception was with one eye covered by the eye patch, and Rhett felt a warm, comfortable feeling inside. The fans might think that romantic involvement was the best thing that could happen to them, but Rhett knew better. He had a brother, and that was best of all.


End file.
